Compliance Stuff

  On July 17, 2025, the California State Auditor’s Office released a comprehensive report ( Report No. 2024-115 ) highlighting significant deficiencies within the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA). The audit, which reviewed sixty case files from fiscal years 2019–20 through 2023–24, exposed alleged critical weaknesses in Cal/OSHA’s enforcement processes and staffing levels, and in very plain language, raised concerns about the agency’s ability to protect California’s nearly 20 million workers effectively. Quick Hits On July 17, 2025, the California state auditor released a report identifying significant deficiencies in Cal/OSHA’s enforcement processes and staffing levels. The audit reviewed sixty case files from fiscal years 2019–20 through 2023–24 and found critical weaknesses in Cal/OSHA’s inspection and documentation practices. The report recommended that Cal/OSHA update its policies, improve inspection processes, enhance abatement verification, address staff...

Most of Cal/OSHA’s COVID-19 Non-Emergency Regulations ended earlier this month, on February 3, 2025, including most of the general COVID-19 Prevention rule, [1]  and the rules for COVID-19 Outbreaks [2]  and COVID-19 Prevention in Employer-Provided Transportation. [3]  As Cal/OSHA noted in their February 4, 2025, News Release: “[T]here is no longer a specific set of regulatory requirements relating to COVID-19 prevention in the workplace.” [4] However, Cal/OSHA’s Non-Emergency Regulations for reporting and recordkeeping requirements remain in effect through February 3, 2026.   History California employers have navigated legal requirements about COVID-19 prevention since March 2020. Among the patchwork of federal, state, and local prevention laws were Cal/OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS). When Cal/OSHA’s Non-Emergency Regulations replaced the ETS in February 2023, most of the requirements were scheduled to sunset in two years, although the accompanying repor...